From quiet places to busy play areas, city parks still work in progress

KATHY MULAD, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

By KATHY MULADY, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Published 9:00 pm, Tuesday, April 1, 2003

Cole Barrett watches Amanda Clayton's toss head for the basket in a game at Kerry Park. Although this shot missed, Clayton beat her fellow Blanchet High senior four out of five games.
Photo: Jim Bryant/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Cole Barrett watches Amanda Clayton's toss head for the basket in a...

Anyone who has climbed the 106 steps to the top of the water tower at Volunteer Park, strolled through Colman Park with its peekaboo views, or hit a tennis ball at Hiawatha Playfield, is familiar with the Olmsted park legacy in Seattle.

The Olmsted Brothers landscape firm envisioned parks mainly as quiet places of contemplation. Their goal for the city was a park within half a mile of every home.

But John Olmsted, who arrived in Seattle 100 years ago this month, probably never imagined the demands placed on parks today. Beyond mere respite from city life, parks are now places to let off steam playing soccer or lacrosse, for dogs to dash in off-leash areas, for public gardens like the P-patch, golf courses and swimming pools, playgrounds for children and paths for hiking.

"People love parks in different ways. We have to step back, look at the whole, and balance the uses," said Ken Bounds, Seattle Parks and Recreation superintendent.

Seattle never finished the Olmsted plan as it was envisioned a century ago. But since the Denny family donated the first city park in 1884, the city has never stopped adding to its collection. There are now more than 400 parks and playgrounds, some smaller than a city block, others like Jefferson Park sprawling over 520 acres.

Some, however, criticize the plan for skipping a large central park in downtown Seattle. No one seems to have a good reason why a swath of green was left out of the city core.

There have been efforts in the past 30 years to bring some green relief from the concrete, glass and metal of downtown. Gas Works Park was dingy industrial land bought by the city from Washington Natural Gas and transformed into a park in 1975. Five-acre Freeway Park was built in the shadow of Interstate 5 in 1976. The planned Sculpture Garden on the edge of Belltown will offer an escape from city stress.

"The city will continue to change before our eyes. We need to keep in mind the necessity of providing quality of life to our citizens through the 21st century," said Peter Steinbrueck, City Council president and chairman of the council's Parks Committee.

King County is struggling to keep its regional and rural parks open. The county recently pared down a proposed levy that will go to voters in a special election, hoping to win approval. The money raised would be used to maintain and operate existing parks, not to buy new lands.

Buying more parkland is becoming increasingly difficult as development spreads. One of the discussions at the Olmsted conference in Seattle this spring is about a regional plan for parks and open space for the next 100 years.

"We need to start talking about it," said Anne Knight, a board member with Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks. "We need to consider which lands look open but could be at risk of development."

Although condominiums and shopping centers seem to be sprouting everywhere, there is still time to make a difference, some say.

"It isn't too late," said Tom Byers, a partner in the Cedar River Group, which is working regionally to preserve open land. "We have an opportunity to decide whether people a hundred years from now will have cities connected to national parks and wilderness by bands of green or bands of gray."

In the early 1900s, the city's park system grew with a combination of purchases and generous donations, according to research by city parks historian Don Sherwood. Pioneer Ferdinand Schmitz donated Schmitz Park to the city in chunks from 1908 to 1912. Frink Park was donated by former state Sen. John Frink in 1907.

In more recent decades, such gifts have been rare, at least until last year, when an anonymous donor gave $1.3 million to build a park in honor of retired Seattle doctor Homer Harris.

"Our capacity to dream big still exists. Big things can happen here," said Mayor Greg Nickels, pointing to plans for South Lake Union and Pioneer Square. "We have to have that same vision now that our city leaders had a hundred years ago and consider how our decision today will affect future generations."

That's also the goal of the Seattle Parks Foundation, which is charged with improving and expanding the city's park system through private donations and fund raising. In its first six months, the foundation helped build and design three neighborhood parks.

One of its biggest projects is 12-acre South Lake Union Park. Executive Director Karen Daubert said the proposed park, with its waterfront and scenic views, is in keeping with the intent of the Olmsted plan. It will offer a refuge from the high-tech mix of offices and apartments planned for the area.

"Our job is not done -- it is far from being done," Daubert said. "We need to leave a legacy for the next 100 years -- a park within a quarter-mile of every home."

Improving and preserving existing parks is just as important as developing new green spaces.

While the original Olmsted parks still exist, some have been scarred by progress. Aurora Avenue slashes through Woodland Park, state Route 520 passes through the Washington Park Arboretum, and buildings are crowding out the views on the University of Washington campus.

Other Olmsted designs have disappeared under tentacles of ivy or faded away from decades of neglect.

EarthCorps volunteers donate about 50,000 hours each year in Seattle parks, pulling ivy, building trails and restoring creeks, said Executive Director Steve Dubiel.

"Ivy is an especially huge problem in Olmsted parks, where it chokes out plants and trees, it is more suitable to rat habitat than healthy forest," said Dubiel.

Throughout the city, other residents also donate their time.

Kay Rood and her neighbors have worked for years restoring Bobby Morris Playfield/Lincoln Reservoir, which is also looking for a more graceful name to match its improved image.

"Bleak" was the best word for describing the 11-acre park in 1995. Others prefer "spooky." Eight years later, a new shelterhouse has been built. A park renovation plan modeled on the original Olmsted design has been drawn. It will become reality as soon as the city caps the empty reservoir.

Last Sunday, the park was humming with activity, baseball games, a Frisbee toss, and neighbors strolling.

The park was designated a Seattle landmark in 1998.

"We are working hard to honor the historic legacy, but at the same time, make the park accessible and good-looking for the contemporary community," said Rood. "I think we are doing a pretty good job."